Singapore “housing-index” dataset - building-level marker of socioeconomic status

Socioeconomic status (SES) is an important determinant of health that is of interest to policy makers, researchers and other data users. In particular, researchers in health services research and epidemiological studies require SES data to control for confounders. In our previous studies, we used housing type as a surrogate marker for SES and investigated its influence on patients with head and neck cancer, and breast cancer. Here, we describe the housing-index dataset that was constructed for the purpose of our research. To construct the dataset, we merged datasets from the Singapore Land Authority (purchased) and Housing Development Board (public domain). This dataset contains all postal codes in Singapore. Of the residential postal codes, we derived a housing-index which is the mean number of rooms per apartment in the building (codes 1-5). Private residential properties were assigned codes 6-7. The higher the code, the higher the SES. The housing-index dataset was created in 2016 and updated in 2020. This housing-index dataset can be readily linked to existing population and clinical datasets in Singapore using patient's residential address postal code. The added “housing-index” data field serves as a block-level SES measure.